• Anne Margarette S Maallo, Eric A Moulton, Christine B Sieberg, Donald B Giddon, David Borsook, and Scott A Holmes.
• Center for Pain and the Brain, Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: Anne.Maallo@childrens.harvard.edu.
• Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2021 Aug 1; 127: 876-883.

AbstractChronic pain and depression are two frequently co-occurring and debilitating conditions. Even though the former is treated as a physical affliction, and the latter as a mental illness, both disorders closely share neural substrates. Here, we review the association of pain with depression, especially when symptoms are lateralized on either side of the body. We also explore the overlapping regions in the forebrain implicated in these conditions. Finally, we synthesize these findings into a model, which addresses gaps in our understanding of comorbid pain and depression. Our lateralized pain-depression dyad model suggests that individuals diagnosed with depression should be closely monitored for pain symptoms in the left hemibody. Conversely, for patients in pain, with the exception of acute pain with a known source, referrals in today's pain centers for psychological evaluation should be part of standard practice, within the framework of an interdisciplinary approach to pain treatment.Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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